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H. M. SVEBILIUS.

SCREW GAP CONTAINER.A

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I8. 191B.

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UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE.l

HENRY IMI. SVEBILIUS, 0F EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 TOY- TINE-ERS, 0F EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, A COPARTNERSHIP COMPOSED 0F ROBERT PETTIT AND CHARLES H. PAJEA'U.

SCREW-CAP CONTAINER.

Patented Oct.. 21, 1919,

Application led September 18, 1918. Serial No. 254,542.

To all fw'wm t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY M. SVEBILIUS, citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw-Cap Containers; and I do hereby declare the following to bc a full, clear, and exact description yof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In its general aspects, my invention relates to containers and aims to provide a novel closure which may be simply and cheaply constructed, which will automati cally compensate for variations in the size and shape of the cooperating parts, and which will require a minimum of metal in its construction. More particularly, my in`- vention aims to equip a container with a simple and inexpensive substitute for a threaded neck or outlet portion, and to provide such a substitute with a much smaller amount of metal than would be required for the corresponding threaded neck.

In mailing light goods, it has heretofore been customary to employ containers comprising cardboard tubes having a fixed bottom at one end, and to equip the other end of each tube with a thread for engaging a corresponding thread on a cap or cover. In practice, it has been difiicult to indent the cardboard with a sufficiently sharp thread to a'ord a firm grip on the thread of the cap or cover. Consequently, the cap has often been forced out of its closure position by the jarring of the contents of the package when in transit, thus causing a loss of the contents or a damaging of the latter. So also, it has been impossible to secure the desired uniformity in threading of such cardboard tubes to enable them to be used freely and interchangeably with caps which might vary somewhat as to the exact size or shape of their threaded portions. To avoid these difficulties, such containers have sometimes been equipped at their open ends with threaded rings made yof metal and adapted to engage the threaded covers, but this has been objectionable both on account of the increased cost and of the added weight, which required additional postage. Moreover, the limitations imposed on the use of metal during the present War conditions have made it impossible to secure the metal in adequate quantities for this purpose, and the same limitation has applied to the use of covers made either wholly or in part of metal.

To overcome these and other objections to the constructions heretofore in use, my invention aims to provide a tubular carton in which the closure portion may readily be made of a cheap and readily available nonmetallic material, such as Wood, and in which the means for interlocking this closure portion with the tubular container ma be cheaply constructed from a very smal quantity of metal and easily secured to the container. My invention further aims to provide a construction of this type which will afford a tight and firm closure in spite of variations in the size of the threaded cover, thus allowing for irregularities in the manufacture and in the shrinkage of the wood.v Still further objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawings-- Figure l is -a central vertical section through a container embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the cover removed.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the metal thread-engaging elements carried by the container, showing the same before it is attached to the tube of the container.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the same element as attached to a wall of the container and as engaging a portion of the cover.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section through a container equipped with a threadengaging element overhanging the open end of the container and adapted for use with the same cover as that of Fig. l.

Fig. 6 is a similar section showing the mouth portion of a container equipped with thread-engaging elements all arranged for engaging a single thread.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing one of the thread-engaging elements of Fig. 5 in operative position.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section showing my invention as employed on a container in which the cover has a fiange housing the end of the tube.

In the container of Fig. 1, the container proper consists of a tube l, made of cardboard, fiber or other material, and closed at its lower end by a bottom or plug 2. As

a lclosure for the other end of the tube I y provide a wooden cover 3, desirably equipped with a flange 4 adapted to engage the eX- treme end of the tube, and having a threaded shank smaller in diameter than the bore of the tube and therefore adapted to enter the latter.

To interlock this threaded cover with the walls of the tube, I secure to the latter a series of elements spaced circumferentially of the tube and spaced at such distances from the adjacent end of the tube that they can simultaneously engage portions of the thread on the cover. For this purpose, I desirably employ metal staples driven from the inside thereof and having their ends clenched on the outside of the tube, each of the said staples having a projection eX- tending radially inward of the tube and adapted to engage a portion of the threaded portion of the cover. Thus Figs. l, 3 and 4 show staples 6 in which the metal has been doubled upon itself into a loop so as to afford an 'arm extending from the back of the staple as a continuation of one leg of the latter, but in the opposite direction from the said leg. Instead of arranging the series of staples at varying distances from the mouth of the tube, to correspond with the pitch of a single thread on a cover, Imay space all of the staples equally distant from each other and equidistant from the mouth of the tube, and I may then equip the cover with a plurality of threads each terminating at the lower edge of the cover and each adapted to be engaged only by a single ontl of the staples, as indicated in Fig. 1. To increase the resistance of such staples to strains tending to dislodge the cover, I may fasten them at a distance from the end of the tube, as shown in Figs. l and 4, thereby securing the resistance of the two portions 5 and 6 against an upward end thrust.

However, I do not wish to be limited to such a location of the staples, nor to the particular number ofy staples shown in Fig. 2, nor to the particular form of staple shown in Fig. 3, nor to other details of the construction and arrangement above described, it being obvious that the same might be varied in many ways Without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, Figs. 5 and 7 show such'staples fastened in a position in which one of the legs clenchingly overhangs the open end of the container, the staples in this. case being arranged for each engaging a separate thread on the cover after the manner of Fig. 1. Fig. y6 shows a series of staples clenchingly overhanging the open end of the container but differing in the location of the thread-engaging projection, so that these projections may all engage a single thread on the cover. Nor is the use of my invention to be confined to containers entered by the threaded part of the cover, or in connection with wooden covers, since the staples might be disposed on the outside of the tube so as to face the threaded bore of a flange carried by a cover and housing the end of the tube. Thus, Fig. 8 shows my invention as used in this manner in connection with a metal-cover, and shows a staple 5 having the thread-engaging portion on the same formed intermediate of the length of its back.

In either case, it will be noted that the metal interlocking elements are secured to one of the two circumferentially overlapping parts of the container and that these elements engage inclined shoulders or cam formations on the other of the two parts, which cam shouldersI have here pictured as parts of threads. In practice, I have found that it requires very little metal for making staples ample for firmly securing a threaded cover, and have also found that the distributing of the strain of the fastening over two portions spaced from each other by the distance between the legs of the staple affords ample strength even with comparatively light tubes. Moreover, the doubling of a thin strip of flat wire or other metal upon itself into a projection enables me to provide a thread engaging portion of a greater ,sharpness and depth than could be rolled from a tube, so that I can effectively use cam-shoulders or thread shoulders of greater radial width than would be possible with a continuously threaded container neck after the manner heretofore in use.

The relatively small width required in the thread-engaging elements also enables me to ignore the'pitch or inclination of the thread when making the staples or fastening the latter to the tube, as the width of thread groove needed to allow for irregular shrinkage of the wood is ample to take care of any lack of exact parallelism.

So also, since thev total width of the thread-engaging arms or projections is much less than the circumference of a corresponding thread would be, the frictional resistance encountered in fastening and unfastening the cover is much less than that met with in the older constructions, thus particularly adapting my invention for use with receptacles which are to be opened and closed without the use of tools.

I claim as my invention:

l. In combination, a container having a tubular mouth portion, a cover equipped with a cam groove facing said mouth radially of the latter, and a wire staple secured to the said mouth portion and having its back equipped intermediate its ends with a projection entering the said cam groove.

2. In a container comprising a tubular intensa i main member and a threaded cover, means for engaging the threaded portion of the cover, the said means comprising a plurality of metal elements secured to the sides of the containers, each of the said elements -consisting of a substantially U-shaped metal strip having a portion thereof doubled into a projection extending from the back of the U parallel to the shanks of the latter and in the opposite direction from said Shanks, each of the said straps being secured to the container With the back of its U bearing atvvise against the container and with the Shanks of the U stapled therethrough.

3. ln a container comprising an unthreaded tubular main member and a threaded cover, means for engaging the threaded portion of the cover, the said means comprising a plurality of metal elements secured to the sides of the containers; each ot' the saidelements consisting of a metal strip secured to a Wall of the container and having a portion of said strip doubled upon itself to form a projection extending substantially radially of the tubular main member.

4C. A container comprising a main mem- I ber and a cover member and having a portion of one member housing a portion of the other. member, the said portion on one member having a plurality of thread grooves and the said portion on the companion member being unthre'adedgthe said companion member including a plurality or elements secured thereto and equipped With projections respectively entering the said thread grooves. j

5. A container comprising a` tubular main member,l a threaded `cover, and -means for engaging the threaded portion of the cover, the said means comprising a plurality ot' metal elements secured to the sides ot' the container; each of the said elements consisting ot a metal strip having a portion thereof bearing atwise against the bore of the container longitudinally of the latter and a shoulder portion extending radially of the container at a distance from the end of the latter.

6. A tubularcontainer, a cover having a threaded portion facing the Wall of the Icontainer and having a second portion adapted to engage an end of the container, and thread-engaging members secured to the4 said Wall and each including a flat strip portion extending into a groove of the thread on the cover intermediate of the ends of the said groove When the said second cover portion engages the end of the container.

7. ln combination, a container having a tubular mouth portion, a cover equipped With a cam groove facing said mouth portion radially of the latter, and a Wire staple secured to the said mouth portion, the said staple having a projection entering the said cam groove 'and having one end forced through and clenched over the Wall of the container.

8. Ai tubular container, a cover for the same equipped With a thread groove facing a Wall of the container, and av metal staple having a back bearing ilatvvise against the said wall and a projection entering the said groove, the staple having its ends forced through the said Wall and bent over to clench portions of the Wall between the back and the ends of the staple.

9. An unthreaded tubular container, a cover for the same, and identical staples secured tothe container, eachstaple being clenchingly secured to the container and having a single projection, the cover having a plurality of thread grooves entered respectively by the projection on one of the staples.

Signed at Chicago, September 16th, 1918.

HENRY M. SVEBlLlUS. 

